Using Facebook Business Pages
Facebook profiles are used by individuals to socialize, but Facebook pages are used by businesses to:
Give a business an online presenceReach new customersExpand a business beyond its local areaGenerate sales of servicesBuild a company brandCreate a mobile hubConnect with customers using Messenger, which is integrated with business pages
How to Set Up a Business Page
Pages are tagged with a category of business, given a title instead of a person’s name, and have several other business-related features. If you already have a Facebook account, you can add a page for your business quickly. Because it is affiliated with your personal profile, you can instantly promote the new Business page to all your friends and contacts. If you are not yet on Facebook, you can create a business page and a new account at the same time. To create a page:
What to Include on Your Facebook Page
For graphic designers, the photos area of your business page is a great place to include design work. Create various portfolio albums with examples of your design projects. This allows visitors to your page to see your work. You can also use the page to add updates on recent projects and news on your business. This is a simple, yet powerful, tool because followers of your page may see your updates on their Facebook news feeds. Your business page may encourage posts from clients and reviews of your business. While Facebook is a helpful tool, it opens the door for people to comment on your business, so you should closely monitor the page to be sure it is working to your advantage.
Promoting Your Business Page
Anyone can see a business page. It is open to the public – even to people without a Facebook account – and doesn’t have any of the privacy restrictions that are available to Facebook users with personal accounts. Promote the page in one or all of these ways:
Invite your existing Facebook friends to like or follow your business page.Post the URL to your business page on your website, in your newsletter or on your business cards.Add the business page URL to your email signature.Encourage your friends and current clients to Share your business page on Facebook with their friends.Use the Boost Post button on one of your business posts to reach categories of people you choose on Facebook. This is a paid promotion, in which you set up a number of days and a budget you want to spend to promote a particular post.
Advertising Your Business Page
Paid advertising on the Facebook network is available in the form of ads, which you construct on the site and then send to an audience you select. You are able to target people in your locality and people who have indicated they use freelance graphic artists. If you work in a niche, you can target it. Your ad appears in the sidebar of the targeted group, where anyone who clicks on it goes directly to your business page. The ad runs until your budget is exhausted. You can choose any budget you want, so the expense is completely under your control. Facebook provides analytics so you can judge the success of your ad.
